Finders Keepers
by HasFar2Go
Summary: "Of course not," she cuts him off.  "I'll feel safer, knowing you're here, ready to shoot, squint or scowl at whoever tries to come through the door."


For Poptartmuse's inception_kink prompt: "He carries her home."

Disclaimer: I have no claim to _Inception_.

**Finders Keepers**

There's shouting. She knows that much. Her thoughts are too murky, but she screams at herself to _remember how you got here_, and she can. She can remember her whole day: her normal morning, her first two lectures of the day. Lunch with a classmate, and then she was just heading back to her apartment to switch out her books when the van pulled up and they grabbed her and-

There's a hand on her face, cradling it. It's gentle. It's warm. It's Dominic Cobb's. Ariadne knows this because his face swims into view, and all she can see is the blue, incredible blue of his eyes. He sits next to her, and props her up.

"I found her" he says into his phone, sounding immensely eased. He turns to her. "Ariadne, honey, are you with me?"

Nodding her head at his question seems to rattle her brain enough; the events of the day are completely recalled. There were a bunch of men who had kidnapped her to force her to help with their Extraction. But she had been smart, so very clever. She'd hidden herself in the level, and then when she'd trapped them in a stairwell with Penrose stairs, she had shot herself and woken up. Had yanked the I.V. from her arm.

Ariadne hadn't considered the sedation they had used to make her compliant in the first place. The memory of the solution's icy chill in her veins made her shiver. Cobb held her closer to him.

"You did good, honey. You're safe."

Her mouth, dry and teeth shattering, finally obeys her. "I ran away. I trapped them in the dream and then I woke up."

She had known she only had a few minutes before the dream collapsed and they went after her. So she stumbled out of the back of the old cafe, and hurried to the police, not sticking around to see what happened. There was the blurry memory of time passing – or was it simply the walls flying by while she was on the Metro? She'd gone down the wrong street. And then the park. The park so close to her apartment, but too far for her tired feet to take her. And they could find her, there in her apartment. They'd found her there in the first place.

"Arthur said you ran right past him. I've been casing the area looking for you for hours."

Ariadne is slumped on a park bench on Rue Benjamin Franklin, and now Cobb is sitting next to her, bracing her against his chest, running a hand over her arm in a comforting manner. She sits up, realization shaking her.

"Those people, they-"

His voice is hard. "They're taken care of. Arthur has some INTERPOL contacts and they were _happy_ to take them off of our hands, albeit a little worse for wear. We were a few minutes behind."

She can only smile at him, it's a weary thing, but it's genuine. She's safe, she's fine. Ariadne can feel the crash start.

"You found me," she breathes, and lets herself slump against him, tucking her head under his chin. She knows it's reality because of the smell of his aftershave, and the lingering smell of coffee on his breath.

"Always will," he assures her into the top of her head. He shifts, and suddenly he's standing, towering over her. "Let's get you back to your apartment."

She tries to stand up, she really does, but her legs are too shaky and the whole world is still sort of twirling around her. It's not the drugs, she's just so damn _tired._

And when she starts to fall Cobb slips an arm around her shoulders, and another under her legs, and she's taken by surprise. "Just give me a second and-"

"Don't even think about it," he warns. "It's two blocks away. You weigh next to nothing. I'm not letting you go until we're in your apartment."

She ought to protest, but she's so damn _tired_, and relieved. Ariadne threads her fingers together behind Dom's head and he's too close and warm for her to care about the strange sight they must be as they make their way up Rue Vineuse.

They're a dark-haired, exhausted woman and a relieved, thankful man, making their way home. She's huddled in his arms (she's hated this sort of swooning behavior from women in novels, and still does, but considers this a perfectly acceptable exception just this once).

He's already got a key to the apartment; she gave it to him months ago when he and the children first moved back to Paris. It was a sign of trust, and an invitation. He's never exactly taken it, but she's been far too busy catching up on her schoolwork to address the situation.

Cobb carries her up both flights of stairs, manages to get the door open, and finally, he puts her gently onto the couch. Before she can say a word, he's locked the door, his gun is out and he is sweeping through the apartment in a predatory way, ensuring it's empty.

"Safe?" she asks when he reappears, and he nods. Instead of tucking the gun back in his waistband, he simply places it on the side table and comes to sit next to her on the couch, landing heavily and with a sigh.

"Let me see," he gently requests, and she's confused until he takes her wrist into his hand, making sure that the vein isn't collapsed. He runs a light finger over the spot, and she can't help but shiver. It doesn't go unnoticed.

"We really ought to get you to the hospital, and looked at," he suggests, but it doesn't sound like he'd be quick to get off the couch.

"I just want to shower, and sleep, and deal with all of this after a good night's rest," she admits.

Cobb nods, and he appears to be preparing to stand once more.

"Don't," she says too sharply, too quickly. He's still got a hand on her wrist, and she draws him back towards her with it. "Please."

"Of course."

She cannot take this anymore. Ariadne feels brittle and jarred to the bone, and will only continue to if Dom continues to act like this. "I'm not going to break...would you be so docile with Arthur, if he was hurt?"

There's far too much sincerity to those blue eyes. "Do you realize that I'm a little shaken right now, Ariadne? You didn't show up to Miles class, and Eames had to call on a police friend of his to review the traffic cam outside your apartment. I didn't think...I didn't know..."

When did their roles reverse? "I'm fine, now. I'm safe. I'm here with you." Ariadne slides her hand down until she can tangle her fingers with his. "The kids?"

"With Marie and Stephen – shit, let me call them."

So she sits next to him when he calls and checks in with his in-laws, and says goodnight to the children, and then tells Stephen he'll be staying at Ariadne's for the night, to make sure she's safe.

And when he hangs up, he turns to her and says "I hope that wasn't overstep-"

"Of course not," she cuts him off. "I'll feel safer, knowing you're here, ready to shoot, squint or scowl at whoever tries to come through the door." She cannot help but smile when she speaks, because it's true, and he cannot deny it.

Tomorrow, the severity of the events will settle in. Tonight, she's simply thankful she's alive, and able to sit on her couch in her small apartment with a man she has come to truly care for. And since there is no time like the present...

"This isn't simply because I was kidnapped and forced to dream against my will and you're the closest male," she prefaces her announcement carefully. "I'm going to kiss you, now."

So she leans in, and presses her lips shyly against his; it's not because it's kissing, but because it's _Dom_. Ariadne is a little surprised at how enthusiastically he responds, and he draws her close, so she is on his lap.

She does finally make it to the shower; Dom carries her into the bathroom, and then when they finally emerge, she's more than happy to let him carry her to the bed.


End file.
